4 THINGS CHRISTIANS MUST DO

The Bible tells us that we’re in a war. This war is not fought with guns and tanks and Grenades. It’s a spiritual war. The Apostle Paul does a great job of explaining this in the book of Ephesians, chapter 6.

Ephesians 6:12
12 Because we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places.

In verse 11, Paul tells us to put on the whole armor of God. In this spiritual war, this is a spiritual armor. He tells us exactly what each piece of that armor is.

Ephesians 6:14-17
14 So stand with the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 Shoe your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
16 Most of all, take the shield of faith, which will make you able to extinguish all the fiery spears of evil.
17 Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

So the Armor Of God is:
The Belt of Truth
The Breastplate of Righteousness
The Preparation of the Gospel of Peace (Shoes)
The Shield of Faith
The Helmet of Salvation
The Sword of The Spirit (Bible)

Again, this battle we’re in is not a physical battle, but a spiritual one. You and I weren’t asked if we wanted to be in this war. We weren’t asked if we wanted to fight. We weren’t given the opportunity to voice our opinion on the subject at all. This war began a long time ago, and the human race became part of it when our first parents, Adam and Eve, listened to Satan’s lies and disobeyed God. The choice that Adam made that day threw the whole human race into the middle of that war, and like it or not, we’re in a war against an enemy who is many more times powerful than you and I.

We’re fighting against an enemy who is more resourceful than we are. This enemy is at least thousands of years old, maybe much older. However old is, he’s had six thousand years to study humans. He knows exactly what makes us tick. He knows what our weaknesses are. He knows exactly what strategy to use to get to each one of us. The only chance we have against this powerful, and resourceful enemy is to ally ourselves with someone who is more powerful than he is. God is the only one that fits that description. He’s the only one that can give us help in times of trouble.

Yes, God is all-powerful, and yes, he will fight for us in this battle, but contrary to popular belief, we have a part to play, too. I’d like to suggest four very important things that Christians need to do in this war that we’re in. These are not the only thing that we need to do, but I believe they’re the four most important things.

1) Trust God Completely.
2) Pray and Study God’s Word (The Bible)
3) Avoid Evil
4) Tell Others About God’s Love

In order to truly trust someone, you have to have a relationship with them. As we pursue a relationship with God, and our relationship with him grows, our trust in him will grow. As long as we’re continuing to pursue that relationship, it’ll grow stronger, and stronger to the point where we can identify with Job when he said, “Even if he kills me, I will still trust him” (Job 13:15). Remember the three Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? When they were faced with a choice between obeying the king or God, in Daniel chapter 3, they chose to obey God even though they were threatened with death if they didn’t obey the king. Look at Daniel chapter 3, beginning in verse 14.

Daniel 3:14-17
14 Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said to them, Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Do you not serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
15 Now, are you ready? When you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, or any kind of music, fall down and worship the image which I have made. If you do not worship, you will be thrown, the same hour, into the middle of a burning fiery furnace, and who is the God that will deliver you out of my hands?
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego responded and said, King Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer you in this matter.
17 If it be, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, King.
18 But if not, know this, King, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.

Did you notice how much faith they had in God? They said, “Our God IS able to deliver us from the fire” (Daniel 3:14-17). They knew God has the power to deliver us out of any situation, and I mean ANY situation. But they also knew something else. They knew that God doesn’t always deliver us from a bad situation. They knew that it might be in his will for them to die.

Many times, throughout history, we can see where new Christians have been born from the death of Martyrs. Remember, God didn’t save John the Baptist in prison. Some people wonder why, but we know there was a reason. God always has a reason for the things he does, and for the things he allows, and we need to realize that in our own lives. We need to trust that God is able to deliver us from anything, but if he doesn’t, then we need to trust that he had a good reason and continue trusting that he knows what’s best for us.

We need to trust God and obey him, completely. The best way to gain that kind of trust is to do the second thing I mentioned in the list; Pray and Study God’s Word. We must have personal daily devotions, and personal daily Bible study, mixed with praise and prayer to the Creator of the universe. We need to make sure the lines of communication stay open. We need to have a close, personal relationship with God so that when he tells us to do something, we know that it’s actually him speaking to us. The only way we can have that is to study the word of God and pray daily, and I mean two-way prayer where we praise him and listen to him, not just ask for things. We also must be willing to change when God tells us we’re doing something wrong, and he will. He’ll also help us to change.

The third very important thing we need to do is Avoid Evil. Job is a good example for us as Christians today in several ways. Job chapter 1, verse 1 says this;

Job 1:1
1 There was a man in the land of Uz named Job, and he was perfect and upright, and feared God, and avoided evil.

The Bible says Job avoided evil. That needs to be our testimony. We need to turn away from evil and go out of our way to avoid it. If we know we have a certain weakness in a certain area, we need to do whatever it takes to avoid that thing. We need to be aware that Satan and his evil angels set traps for us. They know our weaknesses, and they attack us where they know they’ll have the greatest chance of getting us to sin.

Have you ever heard of or seen a situation where someone is offered a certain amount of money to stay in a ring with a big guy for a certain amount of time? All he has to do is avoid the bigger guy until the time is up. What about the kid in school that’s being bullied by another student like I was when I was young? The only way to avoid this situation is to totally avoid that person.

If we know we have a weakness for something, we need to avoid even seeing it. Take alcohol, for example. If we’re tempted by it, and we go to the store to buy things we need, we shouldn’t go down the aisle where the alcohol is. Avoid it. I have a friend in that situation, and that’s exactly what he does. We need to be as diligent as we can and avoid sin whenever possible. That will help us with half the battle. There will always be temptations, but there’s good news. The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God always provides a way to escape when we’re tempted to sin, so remember that the next time temptation comes to you.

Don’t play with the devil’s toys either. There are certain things that some see as entertainment that have evil influences. We need to be aware of these, and if there are things we have doubts about, we need to avoid them as well, until we can be sure one way or the other. We must lay aside everything that will come between us and God.

So, we need to trust God completely. We need to avoid evil at all costs. We need to pray and study the Bible, which is part of worshiping God, and last but not least, we need to tell others about his amazing love, and his sacrifice for them.

In the Bible, we have example after example of God’s people sharing the good news of God’s love with others. Unfortunately, part of that message includes the bad news of what will happen to those who refuse to follow God. Not because he’s mean, and just wants everything his way, but because he’s so holy that sin can not exist in his presence.

We need to warn people that God is coming back, and they need to be ready, but we don’t need to do it in a way that will make God seem like an evil tyrant. We need to call people out of something to call them into something. It’s our duty. We need to understand that we all don’t have to stand behind a pulpit, or go door to door, necessarily. We all have different gifts, and we should look for ways to witness and tell others about Jesus using our talents. We should always be looking for opportunities to share the gospel with others. We should be telling everybody to wake up, he’s coming back soon. This is very important. People are dying every day without a saving relationship with Jesus, and that’s so sad.

There was a Christian man named Bill traveling on a train. As he was eating in the dining car, he noticed something about the waiter. His name was Walter, and he was having a bad day. Several of the passengers were not being kind to Walter. He was doing his best, but still, they criticized him and complained about the food, and about his service.

When Bill finished eating, he left Walter a nice tip, and a little gospel tract, with a note on the table, and went back to the passenger car, and sat down to read. After a while, the waiter came walking down the aisle looking at all the faces of the people, and he finally came to Bill. He sat down and said, I want to thank you, Sir. My life has been in chaos lately and today just added to it. I was feeling so awful, I was planning to go home tonight and kill myself. Then he said, Thank you for giving me this pamphlet, and this encouraging note. Now, I realize what Jesus did for me, and I’m going to live the rest of my life for him.

There are people just like Walter out there. We see them every day. You never know, but maybe a kind word or a smile from you may save somebody’s life. Giving somebody a gospel tract, or an encouraging note may be just what they need to pull them back from the edge. There are many more ways to witness than going to a foreign land and preaching. Every one of us can be a witness in our daily lives. We all need to have a personal Ministry. Each one of us. Find something you like and are good at, and use that to show Jesus to others, and I promise you that sharing with others will bless you just as much as it does them. Try it. You’ll be blessed.

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Adapted from my sermon “War” 2008

THREE FRIENDS, THREE TREES, AND A CONFESSION

I was twelve years old and I lived about a quarter of a mile from my best friend. There were three homes, a church, and a patch of woods between us. There was a valley in the woods and some really tall trees. One day at school, my friend told me he had found a big vine in the woods and had been swinging on it. He wanted me to meet him there after school and have some fun swinging. So I did.

He brought his neighbor with him who went to another school and we all took turns swinging on the vine. At first, I was careful because I was a bit nervous. The hill where we were swinging was pretty steep and when we swung out we were very high off the ground. Then I got a little braver and was swinging further out and higher each time.

Then it happened. I swung too far. There were three trees side by side in a V shape. My shoulder hit one of them and spun me around and I slammed into another one with my back. It knocked the breath out of me and my hands just let go of the vine. I fell into the valley and hit the ground with a thud.

I got up as quickly as I could. It was all I could do to move. I could barely breathe and I was in pain. I just wanted to lay down and cry. All that kept me from doing just that was the fact that I was embarrassed. I didn’t want my friend and his friend to think I was weak so I acted as tough as I could. I did muster up the courage to tell them it hurt a little and I needed to go home.

I could have been hurt worse than I thought. I could have had internal bleeding. I hit that tree pretty hard and I fell a long distance. I hurt for several days, but I didn’t dare tell anyone what had happened, especially my grandmother. I was afraid she would never let me leave the house again.

Shame and embarrassment often prevent us from admitting that we’re not invincible. It also makes us try to hide things we’ve done that were wrong. Even though we know God sees everything we do, too often, we refuse to even admit to him that we’ve sinned, just like Adam and Eve, after they sinned in the garden of Eden. They actually tried to hide from God when he came to visit them.

Isaiah tells us that “sin separates us from God,” but John said, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (Isaiah 59:2; 1 John 1:9). Have you ever heard “Confession Is Good For The Soul?” Well, it really is. Forgiveness is an awesome gift from God, so the next time you sin, and you feel so ashamed that you want to run and hide from God, don’t. We don’t have to be afraid to come to him. We have his promise that he will forgive us.

We know he loves us, and we know he wants what’s best for us so why is it so hard sometimes to just turn to him and confess our sins and say “I’m sorry?” Sometimes it may be pride, but I think it’s usually just shame and embarrassment. We have to get past that and learn to admit when we sin and ask for forgiveness, immediately. The sooner we do, the sooner we can be forgiven and get back to the safety of his arms. It’s truly the best place to be.

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MODERN MANNA

In 1 Kings chapter 11, we learn that King Solomon had a servant named Jeroboam, who was a mighty man of valor. The king saw that this young man was industrious, so he made him ruler over all the affairs of the house of Joseph. Solomon sinned against God and did some things that God had said not to do, so God told him that he would take the kingdom from his house and give it to his servant. He would leave Solomon’s son one tribe for David’s sake. So God sent the prophet Ahijah to tell Jeroboam that he was going to make him king of Israel.

Then King Solomon decided to kill his faithful servant to keep the whole kingdom for his son. To avoid this death sentence, Jeroboam fled to Egypt and remained there until he was told that King Solomon was dead.

In chapter 12, Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, became king of Israel, and Jeroboam returned from Egypt. Then, he and the people of Israel went to talk to the new king. They asked him to make their labor lighter than his father, Solomon, had, but he refused. In fact, he told them he was going to make things tougher for them than the former king had.

So, Israel decided to rebel against King Rehoboam, and they made Jeroboam king over the ten rebel tribes. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David, just as God had said. The ten tribes continued to travel back to Jerusalem to sacrifice in the temple there, but after a while, Jeroboam began to worry. He was afraid that if the people of his kingdom continued to go up to Jerusalem, to sacrifice in the house of God, they might rebel against him, and return to the house of David.

In order to prevent such a thing from happening, Jeroboam offered Israel some options. He set up two different places of worship in his kingdom; one at Bethel, and one at Dan. He set up a golden calf at each location, and encouraged the children of Israel to come, and worship at one or the other, instead of continuing to journey back and forth to Jerusalem. He told the people, “It’s too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” The people bought it. They started going to the place of worship at Dan. The Bible says this became a sin. Then, Jeroboam made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the tribe of Levi. Remember, God had given the Priesthood to the Levites.

1 Kings 12, verse 32, tells us that Jeroboam held a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast they have in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar to the calves that he had made, and he burnt incense as well.

Then in chapter 13, God sent a prophet from Judah with a message to King Jeroboam. God was not happy with the things he had done since becoming king. The prophet said a child, named Josiah, would be born into the house of David, and he would destroy the idols, and the groves, and the priests that Jeroboam had made.

When Jeroboam heard this, he stretched out his hand and gave the command for the prophet to be restrained. When he did this, his hand shriveled up and he couldn’t move it or pull it back to him. So he asked the prophet to pray and ask God to heal his hand. So he prayed for Jeroboam, and God restored his hand back to the way it was before.

The king was pleased, so he invited the man of God to come to his house and clean up and refresh himself, and he offered him a reward. The Prophet refused the offer and said, “If you would give me half your house, I will not go in with you, neither will I eat bread, nor drink water in this place. The LORD told me I should not eat bread, nor drink water, nor go back the same way I came.” So he left and went a different way than what he came.

Now, there was an old prophet in Bethel, and his sons came and told him what the man of God had said, and done to Jeroboam. After finding out from his sons which way to go, he headed out to catch up with this messenger and found him resting under an oak tree. He invited him to come to his house and eat bread, but the man of God told him what the LORD had said, and refused to go back with him. Then the old man said, “I’m also a prophet, just like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, and said, Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread, and drink water.” But he lied to him.

Notice that the man of God had the word of God. God had told him exactly what to do and what not to do. Why would he ever listen to someone telling him something contrary to what God had already clearly told him?

Look at Paul’s instructions in Galatians 1:8-10.

8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be cursed. 
9 As we said before, so I say again now, If anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be cursed. 
10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Friends, we have the word of God in our hands today, but unfortunately, many are still deceived by the lies of the enemy. Wake up, before it’s too late. Look in the Bible for instructions from God, and hold firmly to his words. Don’t be deceived by listening to the many things that contradict what God has already told us in his word.

So what do you think this man of God did when the old prophet lied to him? Look back at 1 Kings 13:19.

19 So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

He disobeyed God. This reminds me of Eve in the garden of Eden when the serpent told her something different than what God had said, and she believed the lie. God had given her and Adam specific instructions, but the serpent came along with something new and different, and even though it contradicted the word of God, they still did it and disobeyed God. Now, this prophet of God has been lied to, and he believed the lie. Let’s continue reading on with verse 20.

20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet that brought him back: 
21 And he cried out to the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus says the LORD, Because you have disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you, 
22 But came back, and ate bread and drank water in the place which the LORD did say to you, Eat no bread, and drink no water, your carcass will not come to the tomb of your ancestors.

The man of God saddled his donkey and left, but he didn’t get far before a lion met him and killed him. Then, the lion and the donkey both just stood there by the dead body.

So Sad. This account shows that there are consequences to disobeying God. Look at all Adam and Eve lost by disobeying God, all because of a lie. Look what this prophet of God lost by listening to a lie. We have a lot to lose if we listen to lies. Eternal life is at stake if we don’t obey God. We have to be on our toes and refuse to listen to lies.

How can we recognize a lie? By knowing the truth. Jesus said, “God’s word is truth” (John 17:17). The word of God is a “lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32).

We have the word of God recorded in the Bible. If anyone tells you something contrary to God’s word, don’t believe them. How will we know if they’re lying or not? We have to know the Bible. To know it, we have to prayerfully read it, and study it every day. It should be our daily bread. It’s like the manna that God sent down to feed the children of Israel in the wilderness. This is manna from heaven for us. Modern Manna. Heavenly food to nourish our spiritual bodies.

God has protected and preserved his word for thousands of years so we can have it today. Satan has always attacked God’s word, and he will never stop. He’s always trying to get us to disobey God’s word. He’ll try anything, but he seems to favor lying to get us to disobey God. Many of the modern Bible translations are full of lies, in addition to deleting many entire verses. We need to be very careful about which versions we read. Do some research on your own and see where each translation originated from.

Satan not only uses these false Bibles to deceive people, but he uses those who read them to sow seeds of doubt in others. Only by knowing the truth can we be sure we won’t be deceived. If you just listen to some Christians talk, you’ll notice that there are many contradictions in their beliefs.

Many are starving because they never even pick up God’s word to read it. Many are only eating this modern manna once or twice a week as the preacher feeds it to them. We do need that, but we also need to learn to feed ourselves. We need it daily. How long can our physical bodies live without physical food? Not long. The same is true of our spiritual bodies. They can’t live long without spiritual food.

In like manner, if someone puts poison in our food we will most likely die. When we receive spiritual food that is laced with poison we will most likely die, spiritually. If you’re one of those who think there’s no way a preacher will lie to you, then you are very mistaken. The Apostle Paul said they would (2 Corinthians 11:2-4). The Bible also says that Satan has ministers pretending to be ministers of God (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). That old prophet lied to this young man of God, and yes, there are preachers today who lie. Again, we can only spot a lie if we know the truth.

Isaiah 8:20 says, “if they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Our creator has prepared this manna for us, and we need to fill ourselves with it every day and know the truth so we won’t be deceived. It’s the only way. Know the truth, and you will recognize a lie when it comes along.

2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to show yourself approved to God, a worker that does not need to be ashamed, RIGHTLY dividing the word of truth.” So, does that mean God’s word can be wrongly divided? Sure it can, and it often is. Many Christians believe the old testament is irrelevant, and many even refuse to read it. That’s not “rightly dividing” the word.

Isaiah 28:10 says, “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:..” That’s the way to rightly divide the word of God. Reading the Bible is fine, and very important, but we must also study it. Meditate on it. The best way is to study subjects. If you want to know what the Bible says about grace, first, use a concordance or Bible software, and find out the definition of grace. Then, search for the word grace, anything that relates to grace. When you have finished, you will know what the Bible actually says about grace. That’s how you rightly divide the word of truth. It’s very dangerous to build a doctrine on one verse of scripture. Many have done just that and have led others astray because they didn’t study the Bible for themselves.

1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you.” We have to know the word of God in order to properly obey God, and teach our children to obey him. How will we know it if we don’t study it? Acts 17:11 says the men of Berea were noble and received the word with all readiness of mind, AND they “searched the scriptures daily,” to see if what they were being told was true. That’s what we must do. We need to be sure what our preachers and teachers are telling us is true. That’s the way we benefit from this modern manna; this daily bread that feeds our spiritual bodies.

1 Corinthians 3:18 says, “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this world, let them become a fool so they may be wise.” When we study God’s word, we need to put away our preconceived ideas and be open-minded so we can see what the Bible really says. Then, we need to be willing to reject what we thought was the truth when we discover we were wrong. That’s how we grow and become wise in the word. Holding on to preconceived ideas has kept many people from understanding the truth. Jesus said God’s word is Truth (John 17:17).

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, 
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 
6 Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will direct your paths.

Trust the Lord. Trust his word. Don’t trust your own understanding. Allow the Holy Spirit to help you understand his word. We have to get our doctrine straight from the Bible.

Deuteronomy 8:3 says, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.”

Jesus quoted this scripture when Satan tempted him in the wilderness (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4) and we need to be able to do that as well. We need to fill our minds with God’s word because we won’t always have a copy of it with us.

In conclusion, God's Holy Book, the Bible, is Modern Manna, sent down from God out of heaven. It is spiritual food for our spiritual bodies. We need to eat it daily. Learn it. Memorize it. Get to know it so you won’t be deceived. Pray without ceasing. Invite the Holy Spirit to help you understand his word, and read it AND study it EVERY day. Your life depends on it.

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© 2017 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
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THE POSSUM CONNECTION

I was in the fifth, or sixth grade when I found them; Two baby Opossums. Back then everybody I knew just called them Possums, without the O in front. Their mother had been killed while trying to cross the highway, most likely under cover of darkness. I saw her when I was wandering around outside early one morning before school. I went down to the road to see what it was. The closer I got, the better I could see, and I soon realized it was a possum. A car passed by just as I reached the end of the driveway. Just then I heard a strange noise; a kind of hissing sound. At first, I thought she might still be alive, but then I saw something moving on her back. Just then another car zoomed past, and I heard the noise again. It was a baby possum. I waited for the traffic to clear, then I ran into the road to rescue the baby. As I reached down to pick it up, I saw another one. I grabbed them both and quickly ran back to safety.

I ran back up the hill, and into the house to show my grandmother what I had found. Since they no longer had their mother to take care of them, we got to keep them. I grabbed a shoebox and an old broom. I cut the broom handle into short pieces the width of the box. I spaced them out evenly and nailed them to the open top of the box. Then I turned it up on its side, and they had a cage with bars so they could see out. We fed them some milk, then went to school.

Guess what we did as soon as we got home. We ran to see our baby possums. I hadn't put the bars close enough together, so one of the babies had gotten out. We quickly began searching for it and found it in just a few minutes. We had to get a bigger box to keep them in, but they were always trying to escape. Another time one of them got out of the big box and disappeared. We searched the whole house. We searched for hours. Hours turned into days. Then three days later he came out from behind the refrigerator. He was tired and hungry, but he was okay. We were so glad to see him.

We loved our baby possums, and they grew pretty fast. With them getting bigger, and constantly getting out, and making a mess, our grandmother made a decision. We had to get rid of them. We were so sad, but we knew a woman who wanted them. She came to our house, and took them home with her, and raised them like cats. I’m glad they had someone to take good care of them. Someone to love them as much as we did.

When I was sixteen, I went to live with my dad for a while. He had found a grown possum, and was keeping it in a cage outside. One day he got another one and put it in the same cage just before he left to go somewhere. It wasn’t long until I heard a commotion outside. When I went to see what was going on, I found the two possums fighting. The new resident was losing the fight, so I opened the door to get him out, so he wouldn’t get hurt any worse. When I reached for him, he turned around and attacked me. His sharp teeth ripped a hole in both sides of my index finger. I still have those scars on my hand today to remind me not to mess with wild animals when they’re fighting.

A few years later, a guy brought a possum to work to see if anyone wanted it. I remembered having those two as pets when I was younger, so I took this one home with me and put it in a cage. I soon realize it was too old to tame, and I thought about setting it free, but I was glad I didn’t when I saw a few babies crawling around on her back. Soon I saw more and more. I secured her where she couldn’t bite me, so I could count the babies. I took them all out of the cage and found that there were eleven of them.

I started taking a few out each day to play with them. I wanted them to get used to me so I could keep them as pets. As they got older, I saw it wasn’t working. When I would go out to see them, the mother would always hiss at me. Soon all the babies were hissing at me, too. They would go crazy when I would pick them up. I think I would have had to take them completely away from the mother to tame them. I knew it was too late for this bunch, so I decided to let them go back into the wild. I lived in an area with lots of woods and lots of other wild animals. There was a river and several springs where they could get water. So, I opened the cage door one night after dark. When I went out to check on them the next morning they were all gone. I felt good knowing they were free.

My last attempt at keeping a possum for a pet was just a few years ago. My mother-in-law had found a young albino possum in her dog food bag. I went over to her house as quickly as I could and brought it home. My youngest son and I spent half the day building a cage for it. Although it was young, it was still afraid of us, and it kept trying to run away. I kept it for a week, or so before I decided to release it back into the wild. It wasn’t warming up to us at all, plus it was just too messy. We took him to a big wooded area, by a big waterway, so it would be able to survive. We let it go and watched it quickly disappear into the safety of the woods.

When God created animals, he meant for them to live peacefully with each other, and with mankind. He brought them all to Adam for him to give them all names (Gen. 2:19-20). There was harmony between man and animals until sin entered the world. After God destroyed the earth with a worldwide flood, he gave man permission to eat animals. He told Noah that the animals would now fear man (Gen 9:1-5). Today, we have domesticated animals, and we have “tamed” many wild animals, but that fear is still there, and it manifests itself in many forms and degrees in different kinds of creatures. It makes us feel good when we “tame” a wild animal. It gives us a sense of accomplishment, and we like to have pets that others don’t have, or at least ones that are not that common. Some animals are dangerous and unpredictable though. It’s probably best to leave wild animals alone entirely.

I also think we all sometimes try to recapture or recreate some things that brought us joy when we were children, but many times it’s not exactly like we remember; Like a certain food, we loved as a child, or a TV show, or movie, or even special pets. I think maybe, sometimes it was more the circumstances, and maybe the people we were with at the time that made those things so special, and no matter how hard we try, we will never be able to get that back. So we just need to cherish those fond memories, while we make new ones with the people we love.

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© 2016 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

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ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED?

I grew up in the Baptist church, like my mother and my Grandmother, my Granddad, and great Granddad, and several generations before them. As I’ve talked to people over the years about salvation I’ve come to realize that Baptists are not the only people who believe that once you are saved you CAN’T lose your salvation, no matter what you do.

The doctrine of “Once Saved Always Saved” has been around for many years; Long before the Baptist Church ever came into existence. The Bible does teach the security of the believer. That is, we can KNOW we are saved, and that we have eternal life. But, can we really receive salvation and then continue to live a life of sin, and still go to heaven? Can we really do ANYTHING we want and remain saved? As always, let’s see what the Bible says.

I think John 10:27-28 and Romans 8:38-39 are the two most popular scripture for the “Once Saved Always Saved” doctrine.

John 10:27-28
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, neither will anyone pluck them out of my hand.

Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We’ll discuss those few verses in a few minutes, but first, let’s look at what I think is the third most popular verse.

Hebrews 13:5
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have because he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.

That’s a quote from the old testament book of Deuteronomy, chapter 31 verse 6.

Deuteronomy 31:6
6 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear, nor be afraid of them because it is the LORD your God, who goes with you. He will not fail you, nor forsake you.

Since the writer of Hebrews obviously believed the old testament was still relevant long after Jesus had died, let’s look at another verse from there.

2 Chronicles 15:2 says,
2 The LORD is with you, while you are with him; and if you search for him, he will be found by you, but IF you forsake him, he WILL forsake you.

Like most promises in God’s word, the promise to never forsake us is CONDITIONAL. By that I mean, when God says he will do something, most of the time he says “IF you do this I will do that.” “IF they do that, I will do this.”

Salvation is a promise with conditions as well. Yes, it’s a free gift and there’s nothing we can do to earn it, but we do have to accept it. God loves us all, and he prepared the plan of salvation so everyone has a chance to be saved, but he will not save anyone who does not want to be saved. The Bible is clear that not everyone will be saved (Matthew 7:20-22). Only those who OBEY God. That is OUR part of the covenant.

Acts 5:32
32 We are his witnesses of these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who OBEY Him.

Romans 8:9 says, “Anyone who does not have the Holy Spirit does not belong to Christ.”

So obeying God is VERY IMPORTANT. It’s the ONLY way to receive the Holy Spirit, and obeying God is the only way to keep the Holy Spirit. When King David sinned, he begged God not to take the Holy Spirit from him (Psalm 51:11).

If we can keep sinning and remain saved, why would God take the Holy Spirit away? What would be the big deal? Why would it matter to David, or to us, if he did? I’ll tell you why. The Holy Spirit lives in those who OBEY, to guide us in the path of righteousness. He comes and lives in us when we are “SAVED.” WE ARE LOST WITHOUT HIM. LOST. David repented and God didn’t take the Holy Spirit away.

All the things that happened to the children of Israel were examples of the plan of salvation. Look carefully at these verses.

Exodus 19:3-6
3 Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, This is what you will say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
4 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
5 So now, IF you will obey my voice indeed, AND keep my covenant, THEN you will be a peculiar treasure to me above all people because all the earth is mine:
6 And you will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you will speak to the children of Israel.

See the condition? They had to obey. Same thing in the next verse.

Exodus 23:22
22 But IF you will indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak, THEN I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries.

IF. The condition was IF they OBEYED him, he would protect them. We see clearly that he did not protect them the times they turned away from him. Some of them were slaughtered by their enemies and some were taken captive and led to foreign lands. Look at the next verse from the New Testament.

Colossians 1:21-23
21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by evil works, yet now he has reconciled you
22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and unreproveable in his sight: 
23 IF you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul have been made a minister; 

What IF they did not continue in the faith? What if they had moved (or turned) away from the gospel? Would they still be Holy, and blameless in the sight of God? Of course not.

When God created Adam and Eve, they were perfect and would have lived forever in their garden paradise. But, when they disobeyed God and chose to sin they lost eternal life. You may disagree. You may say “That’s different”, but no, it’s not. God told Adam that he would die the day he ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and he did. He died spiritually. He lost eternal life. Then he passed that lost condition down to the rest of the human race. God put the plan of redemption into place to get us back to the condition Adam and Eve were in before they sinned.

In Deuteronomy chapter 28, Moses gave the Children of Israel a list of BLESSINGS and a list of CURSES. He said, IF they continued to OBEY God, they would receive the blessings, but IF they turned away from God and DISOBEYED, all the curses would come upon them.

The word of God is consistent throughout, from Genesis to Revelation. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the God of the Old Testament is a different God from the New Testament. Times are different, and human applications are different, but God still requires obedience.

Hebrews 10:26-27 says,
26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which will devour the adversaries.

That’s hell fire. For the BELIEVER who sins willfully. NOT for someone who “WASN’T REALLY SAVED IN THE FIRST PLACE,” but a SAVED person who chooses to turn away from God. Notice, I said someone who CHOOSES to turn away from God.

Here’s more proof.

Ezekiel 18:21-22
21 But IF the wicked will turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he will surely live, he will not die.
22 All his transgressions that he has committed, they will not be mentioned to him. In his righteousness that he has done, he will live.

That’s salvation. Now, look at this next verse closely.

Ezekiel 18:24
24 But when the RIGHTEOUS turns away from his righteousness, and commits sin, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked do, shall he live? ALL his righteousness that he has done will not be mentioned. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them, he will die.

In our first scripture, John 10:27-28, Jesus said, No one is able to pluck his sheep out of his hand. But, 2 Chronicles 15:2 says, If we forsake him, he will forsake us. We can choose to leave God. He won’t make us stay if we decide we no longer want to be in his hand. Again, God requires obedience, and contrary to popular opinion, just believing is not enough. Look at this.

James 2:19-20 says,
19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. The devils also believe and tremble.
20 But will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

The works which James is talking about here are not works to earn salvation but work because we are saved. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation. We are saved by grace, through faith (Ephesians 2:8). We’re not saved by works, but once we are saved there are works to be done. Jesus says he will Judge us and reward us according to our works.

Revelation 22:12
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every one according as their work shall be.

1 Peter 1:17
17 And if ye call on the Father who, without respect of persons, judges according to everyone’s work…

Romans 2:6
6 God will render to every man according to his deeds:
7 To them who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life:
8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, he will give indignation and wrath…

So yes, we will be judged by our works and rewarded according to our works. How we live does make a difference. We can’t continue to live the same way we did before. We can’t do the same things we did before. Sin doesn’t stop being sin just because we are saved. Whatever was sin for us when we were unsaved is still sin for us after we’re saved. God doesn’t excuse sin because we are saved (Rom. 6:2, 15). (Read Romans 6 – whole chapter)

What many don’t understand is that the Bible was written TO God’s people, FOR God’s people, and ABOUT God’s People. The instructions in God’s word are FOR his people. All the rebukes Paul passed out in his letters to the churches were to people who had accepted Jesus as their savior. People who were SAVED. If we can do whatever we want and still remain saved, there would be no need for instructions on how saved people act. Why would we need the Bible after we’re saved?

In 1 Corinthians 5:9-11 Paul tells Gods people to shun fellow Christians who are fornicators, covetous, idolaters, or curses, or are drunkards, or extortioners, and to put them out from among them.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says those who commit the sins on that list will NOT make it into the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither prostitutes, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor feminine men, nor sodomites,
10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

It’s sad to say, but there are many who have been saved who do these things and believe they WILL inherit the kingdom of God and it’s all because of this doctrine of “Once Saved, Always Saved.”

Let’s go back to the first two scriptures I mentioned.

John 10:27-28
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, neither will anyone pluck them out of my hand.

From all the other scriptures we’ve looked at, we see that, although no one can pluck us out of his hand, we can turn away and leave his hand, and many have. Judas was one of the Apostles of Christ. He was given all the powers of the other Apostles and was sent out to baptize and heal, and cast out demons. He chose to betray Jesus and was lost.

Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Be careful when you read God’s word. Don’t read something into it that isn’t there. Notice exactly what it says. “Nothing can separate us from the LOVE of God. It doesn’t say nothing can separate us FROM God. It says from his love. God loves us no matter what, but that doesn’t mean he will allow us to be part of his kingdom if we continue to sin. Let’s examine one more passage of scripture.

Luke 12:42-46
42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?
43 Blessed is that SERVANT, who his lord finds doing so when he comes.
44 Truly I say to you, that he will make him ruler over all that he has.
45 BUT, and IF that SERVANT says in his heart, My lord delays his coming, then begins to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken,
46 The lord of that SERVANT will come in a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will SEPARATE, and will appoint him his portion WITH the UNBELIEVERS.

So, contrary to popular belief, we can not live any way we want and stay saved. To remain saved, we must obey God, and allow him to lead and guide us, and keep us pure. So, heed his warnings. The Bible is clear; we must obey God. This is serious. Jesus is our only hope. Cling to him for dear life, and obey his rules. We can know that we are saved, and we can remain saved, but we have to obey him.

If we truly love God, we’ll want to obey him. Even then, it’s still hard at times because of temptation, but he is able to keep us from falling if we just trust him (Jude 1:24). His law is holy, perfect and good. The closer we stay to him, the less chance we can be drawn away from him. Prayer, Bible reading, and Bible study will help us remain close to him and remain safe.

He’s coming back soon to separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the weeds, the righteous from the wicked, the saved from the lost. Which group we are in when he returns is up to us.

“So, you be ready also because the Son of man will come in an hour that you do not expect him” (Matthew 24:44).

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My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2015 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6